Ecosystem services: Land use, water and waste management

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An in-depth look at what nature provides, and how precious resources can be protected and preserved.

Often overlooked or taken for granted, the services that nature provides are essential for human survival. Explore the links between the ‘human-made’ and the ‘natural’ world, looking at how and where human systems interact with and rely on natural ecosystems, how these have been damaged and degraded by our activities, and what we can do to help rebuild and repair.

Key information

Duration: six days

Upcoming dates: please see booking section below for all available dates

Start and finish times: starts at 6pm and ends at 2pm on the last day

Fees: waged £750; low waged / concessions £700

Includes: tuition, all materials, full board shared accommodation

What to bring: as this is a highly practical course, safety boots are required and waterproof clothing is recommended

What you will learn

For this course you will be joining students on CAT’s MSc Sustainability and Adaptation course as you explore the functions of ecosystems: what they are, how they work and what they do.

Ecosystems are the hidden and often forgotten structures that underpin human existence and modern civilisations.

You will learn the roles of ecosystems in providing human needs, regulating our environment and provisioning our societies.

Lectures will cover descriptive, conceptual and technical accounts of ecosystem processes and the links between those processes and the provision of food and resources, as well as the services they provide for society such as cleaning our water and treating our wastes, and importantly, how we can use them and support their continued existence in unadulterated state.

Lecture topics include:

Ecosystem services

Resources and resource management

Flooding and drainage

Water and waste water

Sewage management

Food security

Gaia and the selfish gene

Liberation Ecology

Sustainable agriculture

Water security issues

Contaminated land

Biomimetics and bioremediation

As well as lectures, the issues will be explored further in seminars and practical sessions.